Category: twelfth five year plan

Twelfth Plan (2012–2017)

The Twelfth Five-Year Plan of the Government of India has been decided for the growth rate at 8.2% but the National Development Council (NDC) on 27 Dec 2012 approved 8% growth rate for 12th five-year plan.

With the deteriorating global situation, the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Mr Montek Singh Ahluwalia has said that achieving an average growth rate of 9 percent in the next five years is not possible. The Final growth target has been set at 8% by the endorsement of plan at the National Development Council meeting held in New Delhi.

“It is not possible to think of an average of 9% (in 12th Plan). I think somewhere between 8 and 8.5 percent is feasible,” Mr Ahluwalia said on the sidelines of a conference of State Planning Boards and departments. The approach paper for the 12th Plan, approved last year, talked about an annual average growth rate of 9%.

“When I say feasible… that will require major effort. If you don’t do that, there is no God given right to grow at 8 percent. I think given that the world economy deteriorated very sharply over the last year…the growth rate in the first year of the 12th Plan (2012–13) is 6.5 to 7 percent.”

He also indicated that soon he should share his views with other members of the Commission to choose a final number (economic growth target) to put before the country’s NDC for its approval.

The government intends to reduce poverty by 10% during the 12th Five-Year Plan. Mr Ahluwalia said, “We aim to reduce poverty estimates by 9% annually on a sustainable basis during the Plan period. Earlier, addressing a conference of State Planning Boards and Planning departments, he said the rate of decline in poverty doubled during the 11th Plan. The commission had said, while using the Tendulkar poverty line, the rate of reduction in the five years between 2004–05 and 2009–10, was about 1.5%points each year, which was twice that when compared to the period between 1993–95 to 2004–05.[11] The plan aims towards the betterment of the infrastructural projects of the nation avoiding all types of bottlenecks. The document presented by the planning commission is aimed to attract private investments of up to US$1 trillion in the infrastructural growth in the 12th five-year plan, which will also ensure a reduction in subsidy burden of the government to 1.5 percent from 2 percent of the GDP (gross domestic product). The UID (Unique Identification Number) will act as a platform for cash transfer of the subsidies in the plan.